Friday, December 24, 2010

Why does it seems as if I am always rescuing things.I found this beautiful little butterfly drowning in the pool and fished him out. You can see his wet wing still sticking to my finger. I put him on the lawn to dry out and soon the sun had warmed his wings enough for him to lift them up but he was exhausted and lay there for a long time. Soon he was stirring around and I picked him up and put him on the branch of a tree, he sat there for a while, then flew off. The end third of their wings are transparent.

Monday, December 6, 2010

I have been searching for scorpions for almost a year now and yesterday found one in the yard of my office. No wonder I cannot find any....all my searching understones was for nothing as I believe the best time to find them is at night with a UV lamp.

"Scorpions evolved from aquatic creatures that lived some 450 million years ago, way before the dinosaurs existed. In those early days of evolutionary experimentation, they attained a length of over 1m. Scorpions have since then scaled down in size and have wedged themselves into their own niche habitats within the general environment.""All scorpions posses neurotoxic venom. Their venom is fundamentally similar and therefore antivenin can be applied across the board. Scorpion venom is a complex mixture of neurotoxins each part performs a certain function. Functions include pain-inducing components for warding off predators, or toxins aimed at immobilizing specific groups of creatures such as insects, and even courtship.""It is interesting to note that southern Africa is host to one of the world's least venomous scorpions belonging to the genus Hadogenes. Although Hadogenes sp. venom is virtually harmless they do sport a pair of powerful pincers capable of splitting fingernails. A member of this genus also holds the record for the longest scorpion in the world, attaining a length of over 21cm. A few more can even spray venom in defense. If the sprayed venom gets in the eyes it is a painful and visually impairing ordeal. Survival guides come to the rescue in this respect and recommend washing out with any bland fluid, even urine."